Everything Else But Love

I will say everything else
but “ I love you”
because I know
your heart
can’t bear that flood.
I know I can express
all that is beautiful and fluid
in a mess of quatrains
and graceful words
with one exception
that word
“Love”
I know I can mention
every word
in the vast lexicon
of adoration
that word “adoration”
I can use as well
I can tell you how
my heart longs
and as suffered for you.
I can tell you my
body is weak
and my heart is gray
in my silences from
you
I can tell you how I
think of you
that my mind is flooded
with thoughts of your pressence
but I can’t tell you
that most simple world
the one that decribes
exactly how
I feel.